


Pieced Together

by quietpastelcolours



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, In Which Junkrat Is A Scraggly Junkfish, mermaid au, monster au, possibly will be followed by some sort of sequel but idk yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 02:26:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17438156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietpastelcolours/pseuds/quietpastelcolours
Summary: Satya is relaxing by the ocean when she comes across a creature that is decidedly not human. Seeing him wounded, she decides to help.





	Pieced Together

Satya smiled to herself as she lifted one foot from the water, watching the way the drops caught the light as they arced into the air, before falling back into the ocean beneath her. She loved the sea; it was peaceful and soothing and when she came to her favourite rockpools, way up past where the tourists went, she was usually assured of some alone time.

Satya leaned back on her hands and glanced up at the sky, watching the perfect, fluffy clouds float aimlessly by. A splash called her attention back to the water, where she was just in time to see a flash of scales disappear beneath the water, perhaps some four metres from her bare feet. Satya pulled her feet out of the water and watched suspiciously, not wanting such an obviously large fish to nibble her toes. 

She sat there for a few minutes, trying in vain to catch sight of the fish again, but no hint of greenish scales showed beneath the water, and she began to relax again, dismissing her plan of relocating. She was technically at the rockpools, but Satya had chosen to sit at what she affectionally called 'the last frontier', for it was the last strip of rock before the pools dropped away into the ocean proper, and she could only reach it at certain times of day, when the tide was lower. Just because the tide was low, however, didn't mean that the drop-off point was shallow - it was quite deep, deeper than the end of the branch she'd attempted to use as a measuring stick. So, she liked to sit and dangle her feet there with no fear of touching sand or seaweed, but there was always the chance of fish, like now.

Abruptly, something flicked from the water to her right and Satya got to her knees, peering curiously at the spot. She had seen that same flash of greenish scales and was positive that it was the same large fish, so she pulled her phone from her pocket, hoping to catch an excellent picture if she was lucky enough to see the fish again. Her finger hovering over the capture button, she scanned the water with a hopeful eye. She got more than she'd bargained for a moment later, when a distinctly human head surged out of the water, right under her nose. Satya screeched in shock and fell backwards, and tried to leap up and run in the same moment. As her feet were underneath her, all she succeeding in doing was toppling over sideways, and plunging into the water with a splash.

Satya shrieked as the water closed over her head and she opened her eyes, squinting through the slight sting of salt water. She could just make out the dark shape of something in the water beyond her, and then it moved _towards_ her and she panicked, thrashing in the water as she groped for the rocks to pull herself out. Abruptly, something hit the small of her back, like a lightly thrown stone, and she grabbed the rock and attempted to haul herself out, but couldn't quite manage it as fast as she would have liked. The pressure at her back moved then, and something _lifted_ her up. Satya scrabbled, clinging to the rocks like a limpet and clambering out of the water, with whatever was holding her helping far more than she would have liked to admit.

Satya scrambled to her feet and stared, shocked and dripping, but there was no sign of  - _whatever it was_ \- and then she gasped.

My phone!" she cried in outrage, realising it was now at the bottom of the ocean, but before she could properly look for it, a head broke the surface of the water and she froze.

It was the same head from before, a head that could only be described as scraggly. It was a man, or so she thought, with sparse blond hair dripping over his face. His ears drew her attention and Satya sucked in a shocked breath, because he didn't have ears - they were more like - like fins, stuck to the side of his head. The right fin was horribly ragged, like something with sharp teeth had once taken hold of him - and probably had, she realised. The fish-man - for that was what he resembled, with gills on the sides of his neck - looked at her rather hesitantly, and then he lifted his hand from the water. Satya reflexively shrank back but then gasped again, for the fish-man was holding her phone out to her. She stilled and watched him tentatively, but he jiggled the phone in his grasp and came a little closer, pausing when she shrank back. They performed this curious ballet long enough for him to be close enough that Satya could reach out and snatch her phone from his damp grasp, and then she peeled her gaze from him for long enough to see if she could get a photo and – no, it wouldn’t turn on. She sighed in disgust, for she’d only renewed her contract a few months ago, and now she’d have to plead water damage and get a new phone.

She continued to watch cautiously, and then, as the fish-man was just… gazing at her, she decided to speak. _Oh, this cannot be real,_ she thought to herself.

“Hello,” she began softly, and then repeated herself first in Telugu and then in Hindi, feeling very foolish as she did so. What were the odds that a fish-man knew any of her languages? Then again, the odds of him knowing English were a little higher, considering that they were on the Australian coast. Satya’s latest project was in a coastal Australian city, and it was on her down time that she liked to come to this scenic little spot to relax.

“Hi,” the fish-man replied, and cocked his head to the side, his expression strangely strained. “What else’d y’say?” _He spoke! I’m dreaming, I have to be._

Satya blinked; she hadn’t expected him to understand her. “I said hello, in my language.”

“Oh.” The fish-man frowned, clutching his right arm to his body beneath the water. “What’re y’doin’ here?”

“What am I doing here? What are _you_ doing here? You frightened the life out of me.” _Oh my Gods, I am talking to a fish. A man… who is a fish. I am going to be committed._

The fish-man grinned, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth, some of which were broken and jagged.  “I was here before you.”

“Were you? I don’t recall seeing you here yesterday,” Satya said a little snippily, thoroughly rattled by the whole conversation.

The fish-man’s brows shot up, before his breath hissed between his teeth as he shifted in the water. “Yesterday? Y’come here often? Fair’s fair then, must be your spot. I uh, just got into a bit of a pickle, is all. Needed a spot to hide for a bit.”

“Hide from what?” Satya asked somewhat suspiciously, trying to wring out the hem of her sopping shirt, which she reflected, was not going to make her drive home much fun. This is insane. _A fish-man? Here? Talking to me? What is happening?_

“Er – this.” The fish-man rose from the surface a little, enough to show her his right arm – the stump of his right arm, which ended halfway down his forearm, wrapped in copious amounts of seaweed, stained with obviously fresh blood. As she watched, a small trickle escaped the bindings and Satya gasped.

“You need a proper bandage.”

“A what?” The fish-man frowned, gingerly clasping the arm to his chest once more. “I’m good. Just need a bit of a spell.”

“What happened?”

He grimaced, the fins on the side of his head twitching downwards as if echoing his displeasure. “Shark. Didn’t see it comin’.”

“Oh.” Satya eyed him with something close to concern. “You need a doctor.”

“A what?”

“A – never mind.” Concern warred with prudence and she hesitated, but gave in. “Stay there for a moment.” _This is it. I’ve gone certifiably insane._

Satya hurried back across the rocks and reached her car, and shoved her hand beneath the passenger seat, looking for her first aid kit, which she found and carried back to the rocks.

“What’s it?” The fish-man asked, pain twisting his features as he shifted his grip on his stump.

“A first aid kit,” Satya supplied, sitting down and rifling through it. “You can’t see a doctor and I suppose the salt water is good for it, but seaweed is not what I would call an ideal bandage.”

The fish-man stayed where he was when she beckoned, furrowing his brow. “Thought y’were scared of me,” he said suspiciously. “Y’screamed.”

“I did, because you popped out from the water and scared me,” Satya said patiently. “Honestly, I’m not convinced I’m not dreaming. Either way, you need a bandage. Come here.”

He swam a little closer, and Satya began to open a bandage. “What’s your name?” she asked, resisting the impulse to ask if he even had one.

“Junkrat,” he said, and she arched her brows.

“Rat? I wasn’t aware that there were rats in the ocean,” she said, and he giggled.

“I had a friend once. A fisherman. Big fella. Kiwi, y’know. Got tangled up in his nets and he let me go, but called me Junkrat first. I liked it. Dunno what a rat is, though. What is it?”

“A small furry animal with a bad reputation,” Satya said primly, and eyed him as he laughed. “Will you let me help you?”

Junkrat’s grin faded and he looked her over thoughtfully, his expression slightly wary beneath the pain. “Guess so,” he mumbled, and swam closer, close enough for her to see the long scaly tail beneath the surface of the water.

“You have a tail?” she cried, startled, and he gave her an odd look.

“What else? What’s _your_ name?”

“Satya,” she replied, and gingerly reached out to touch him. His skin was damp and cold, and his breath hissed between his teeth as she began to unwrap the seaweed, as gently as possible. His wound was mostly clotted but the seaweed had stuck to the flesh and he began to bleed, so she sped up, pressing a thick cotton medical pad over the end of his stump and ignoring how obviously painful it was to him as she grabbed her bandage and began to wrap, aiming to keep it firm and secure, so it wouldn’t come off in the water.

He stared at her the whole time, bright molten eyes fixed unerringly on hers as she worked, and it as rather disconcerting, but at length she finished and drew back.

“There. I think that will hold. It will help with the bleeding, at any rate.” Satya hesitated and pushed her wet hair over her shoulder. “Be careful. I don’t know if it will stay on in water.”

“Oh, I ain’t goin’ anywhere, believe me,” he promised. “Y’dunno how much it hurts t’swim right now.”

“I can imagine,” Satya said, zipping up the first aid kit. “Do you… need anything else?” He clearly wasn’t going to hurt her, and her natural wariness was becoming overridden by curiosity, for this was a _mermaid_. A merman? A mer-thing, certainly.

“Nah, all’s good.” Junkrat said cheerfully, pushing his damp hair back off his face, and then was neatly betrayed by his stomach, which growled loudly.

“You’re… a merman?” Satya asked hesitantly, and he nodded.

“Sure am.”

“Can you eat… what I eat? I have food in my car…”

It was amazing how quickly he perked up at that. “Yeah!? Ah, I mean, cheers. If y’want, that is.”

The corner of her mouth curled up. “I’ll go and get it.”

It wasn’t much, just her usual lunch, which she hadn’t eaten yet due to her busy morning. She’d meant to eat it out here, and she supposed she was – just with an accompaniment in green scales. She’d been too busy to prepare a nice lunch, but had managed to pack a salad and a sandwich, along with a piece of red velvet cake.

Satya set the cake aside for desert and offered him the salad and the sandwich first. “Which would you like?” she asked. “I’ll have the other.”

Junkrat eyed the two options thoughtfully, and pointed at the salad, letting out a hiss of pain as he jostled his arm. “That’s not seaweed?” he asked doubtfully, and she laughed.

“It’s not. It’s lettuce and spinach.”

“Oh.” Junkrat eyed the salad thoughtfully and then, quick as a flash, stole a single lettuce leaf and tried it, his expression vacillating between enjoyment and confusion. “Sure isn’t seaweed,” he agreed. “What’s the other thing?”

“A sandwich,” Satya explained. “It’s got chicken and avocado on it.”

“Oh.” Junkrat squinted at the sandwich. “What’s a chicken?”

“An animal,” Satya explained after a brief pause – she’d never had to explain what a chicken was before. “It’s a bird. Like… a seagull?” she hoped he knew what seafaring birds were.

“Oh, a _bird_. Can I try it? Oh, y’were wantin’ t’eat one, yeah?” Junkrat looked the tiniest bit contrite. “Never seen either of ‘em, t’be honest.”

“Here.” Satya handed one half of the sandwich to him. “We can share.”

“Cheers,” he said warmly, taking the sandwich half with one hand. He took a cautious bite and then his eyes opened wide. “Mm!” Junkrat peered down at it. “What’s the green stuff?” he asked with his mouth full.

“Avocado,” Satya said as she bit into her half of the sandwich. “A vegetable.” When he looked confused, she elaborated. “A plant. Like seaweed.” _A very distant relation of seaweed_ , she added in her head.

“Never tasted seaweed like this before,” Junkrat mused. “I like it but.”

“I don’t suppose you have,” Satya agreed, and continued eating her sandwich half. They shared the salad too – Satya put half of it in the lid of the container and handed it over, and Junkrat ate it in mostly fascinated silence driven by his hunger, only stopping to ask her what the dressing was made of, and what exactly were cherry tomatoes and cucumbers. He had been especially intrigued by the cucumber, for apparently he was well acquainted with them, and he had wanted to know if when she had harvested it, had it thrown its guts at her in self-defence? Satya had then had to explain the difference between sea cucumbers and the vegetable (namely, that garden cucumbers were not animals and therefore did not have any guts to throw), before he’d then been amazed by the cheese.

Finally, however, the salad was finished and she packed the container away before pulling out the cake, and smiled to herself as Junkrat’s eyes got very wide indeed. She found herself quite liking him; he was exuberant and boisterous, and even if he was subdued due to his injury, she could tell what his natural personality was. Were he a human she wasn’t entirely sure if she’d like him; perhaps she would, but she’d find him… odd. The fact that he was a merman presented her with a satisfying feeling of otherness, that allowed her curiosity to blossom, and remain sitting with him, locked in fascinating conversation where it appeared he found her just as intriguing as she did him.

Satya split the cake in half and handed him half, and he took a large bite of the icing, before closing his eyes and mumbling something under his breath in ecstasy, before he handed the cake back to her. Surprised, Satya took it and watched first in confusion and then in shock as Junkrat planted his one hand on the rock and hoisted himself out of the water.

“Don’t! You’ll hurt yourself!” she cried, but he was already sitting beside her, and then her attention was captured by the rest of his body, hitherto hidden by the water. Junkrat was more or less human looking to his waist, though scales crept up his back and along his sides, giving him the appearance of a soft underbelly, and his _tail_ – Satya couldn’t help but stare. It was long and curved, more like the tail of an eel than a fish, with long, feathery fins trailing from the end. He looked somewhat lopsided and it took her a moment to realise that the feathery appearance was not natural – the fins on his right side had been mostly ripped off and the left was quite shredded, and scars crawled up the length of his tail. Come to think of it, he was scarred pretty much everywhere, and Satya let her eyes rest on a deep furrow of ridged flesh across his shoulder for a moment.

“What happened to you?” she asked quietly, and Junkrat made a reflexive motion, moving to grasp at the scar she was looking at with the stump of his arm, and hissed in pain, body tensing as he lowered it back down slowly. Junkrat flicked a long tongue over sharp teeth and reached for his slice of cake.

“Rough life down there,” he said by way of explanation. “Sharks. Orcas. Ships. Don’t get tangled up in propellers, it ain’t fun. Other mer. Some of ‘em are right bastards, y’know.”

“That’s terrible,” Satya said softly. “I’m very sorry.”

He gave her a funny look and stuffed the last bite of cake into his mouth. “Why?” he asked through his mouthful. “Ain’t like you did any of it.”

“I’m still sorry for it,” Satya said again, and he laughed and grinned at her, showing sharp teeth.

“I like human food,” he said, and looked hungrily over his shoulder at her car. “Y’haven’t got any more?”

“I’m afraid not.” Satya pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, gazing at him as she thought about what came next. “Do you… what do you eat, normally?”

“Oh, fish, crabs, kelp, anythin’ I can get m’hands on, mostly,” he said breezily, before a cloud covered his features and he looked down at his bandaged arm. “Uh. I _did_. Don’t think I’ll be huntin’ very much with m’arm like this.”

He sounded downcast and Satya worried her bottom lip with her teeth. “What will you do?” she asked, and he shook his head.

“Dunno. Look for bits t’eat round here, I guess. Gotta be shellfish an’ shit, bigger fish if I’m lucky.”

Satya fiddled with the still damp hem of her shirt. “I can bring you food, if you’d like.”

Junkrat stared at her, molten eyes wide with shock. “Really? You’d do that?”

Satya managed a half smile. “I can’t let you starve.”

The corner of his mouth hitched up. “Thanks, Satya. I’d uh, I’d appreciate it.”

Satya nodded and glanced away, unsure of what she’d just gotten herself into, but then Junkrat asked her a question about her car, and then another, and another, and quite soon he was peppering her with questions about what it was like to live on the surface world, just as she was asking him what life was like below the waves. Eventually, the sun began to set and Satya stood up to leave, internally surprised at how regretful she was about it.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, with food,” she promised.

“I ain’t goin’ anywhere.” Junkrat eased himself back into the water and grinned up at her. “See ya. And, thanks.”

Satya spent the walk back to her car full of doubt and confusion, but with one irreversible fact scribed on her heart; she was intrigued by this scrappy, dilapidated merman, and armed with food and a better first aid kit, she was coming back tomorrow.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a birthday gift for the amazing @sweetcrispyotter!!!! happy birthday and i hope you enjoy this!! 
> 
> ive been meaning to write some junkfish stuff for ages and now i've finally had an excuse! i'll maybe end up doing a sequel as satya gets used to having a rather raggedy merman as a friend~


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